Harrison Ford Believes This 2002 Flop Is One Of His Most Underrated Movies

Harrison Ford is 82 and has been enjoying somewhat of a renaissance of late. 2023 became the year of Ford giving a crap again after the early 2000s and 2010s seemed to be something of a slog for the veteran star. Not only did he appear to be going through the motions in a lot of his movies, he also became one of Hollywood's most notorious grumps, rivaling Ridley Scott for the most amusingly irascible man in the industry.

But that has changed in recent years. "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" might have been a massive flop, but none of that was down to Ford, who in stark contrast to his performance in 2008's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," seemed to truly care about delivering a heartfelt Indy portrayal. Ford also started pushing his boundaries with roles in "Yellowstone" spin-off "1923" and Apple TV+'s "Shrinking," both of which have been very well received and showcase their star at his best. Meanwhile, the actor can still be curmudgeonly in interviews, but he seems to have more of a sense of humor about it all these days.

It was a long road to get to this point. Ford has endured some truly abject low points in his long career and the early 2000s are one such example. After trying to transition out of his action persona in the '90s and struggling, Ford continued his effort to convince everybody he was the great actor we all know him as today. 2000's "What Lies Beneath" was somewhat of a success, but 1999's "Random Hearts" and 2002's "Hollywood Homicide" didn't do much for his career. It didn't help that, in between those two ill-advised projects, Ford starred in "K-19: The Widowmaker," Kathryn Bigelow's semi-historical retelling of a Soviet submarine and the narrowly averted meltdown in its reactor. The film flopped at the box office. But that doesn't bother Ford, who is proud of his work in the movie. 

"K-19: The Widowmaker" is based on the real-life story of Russia's first nuclear-equipped submarine, which during its initial 1961 voyage lost coolant in one of its two reactors. The captain ordered engineering personnel to figure out a solution that would avoid a complete nuclear meltdown, and the crew managed to save the submarine by constructing a makeshift coolant system. Sadly, 22 of them died in the following two years.

The movie recounts this harrowing ordeal, and sees Harrison Ford play the stern Captain Alexei Vostrikov, alongside Liam Neeson as Captain 3rd Rank Mikhail Polenin and Peter Sarsgaard as Lieutenant Vadim Radtchenko. It was the National Geographic Society's first ever attempt at producing a feature film and right from the very beginning it didn't go too well. The real survivors of K-19: The Widowmaker weren't fans of the script and though they had been brought on to advise the production, evidently felt betrayed by the film and its historical inaccuracies.

The misfortunes continued following the July 19, 2002 debut of "K-19." Stateside, the film made $12.7 million on its opening weekend, which fell far short of its $25 million projections. Things didn't get much better after that, with the movie making $65.7 million globally by the end of its run, which on a budget of $100 million made "K19: The Widowmaker" an emphatic box office flop. Considering a movie typically has to double its budget to break even, "K-19" proved to be the cinematic equivalent of the historic catastrophe on which it was based.

Despite a truly disastrous theatrical run, "K-19: The Widowmaker" has managed to claw back some dignity in the years since. It hasn't exactly undergone a full critical reappraisal, but it is a critically-panned war movie worthy of being given a second chance, and claimed a spot on /Film's best submarine movies ever made list. What's more, Harrison Ford himself remains quite proud of his work on the film

In an interview with Total Film, Ford was asked if there was a role he felt was under-appreciated that he remains proud of. The actor responded by naming his role as Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey in Jackie Robinson biographical drama "42." But that film was well-received and commercially successful upon its initial release. Ford's other pick, however, was not. The star continued:

"I'm proud of 'K-19: The Widowmaker,' where I played a Russian submarine captain. But I think they're good movies — that's why I'm proud of them. Each film has its own destiny, and I don't go back and parse the experience."

It's somewhat heartening to hear Ford talk up one of his biggest flops, especially since on a previous "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," interview he seemed to agree with critics of the film. "What kind of name for a movie is that, 'K-19?'" he said. "It's a stupid name. And why do they have to be Russian!?" In that moment, Ford seemed to do himself a disservice by siding with critics of the film, though he was likely mocking the harsh critical appraisal his film had received. While "K-19" isn't one of Harrison Ford's best movies, then, it's certainly not the historic catastrophe many critics made out, and Ford knows that.